The Queanbeyan Whites have lifted the John I Dent Cup for the first time in 24 years after defeating the Gungahlin Eagles 33-12 in their Premier Division First Grade grand final at Viking Park today. 

The Whites last won the competition in 1983 when they defeated Daramalan (now Gungahlin) 29-12. Queanbeyan, who finished third during the regular season, headed to the break locked at 5-all before unleashing four second half tries to seal the 21-point victory.

Captain and fullback Josh Hastings (pictured) capped off a memorable day by scoring two tries and claiming the Bob Smethills Trophy for man of the match. Hastings said he was lost for words after his side’s performance.

“I think it [the Bob Smethills Trophy] could’ve gone to any of the 15 players out there on the field today, I was just the lucky one,” he said. “It [winning the premiership] means so much to me but it means so much more to the older people in the club. It’s an unbelievable feeling; I’m so proud and so excited. We were told to go out and play with passion, not emotion, and I think we did that for a long part of the game. The key was our second half after we wore them out in the first half. We ran their big forwards around and I think they were pretty tired, and we used our speed out wide to bust holes.”

The Whites were the first side onto the scoreboard when Hastings charged onto a short John Kevin pass before hitting and spinning out of two tackles to score after 16 minutes. That raid would be the last time the Whites would get within sight of the try line as the Eagles mounted a 20-minute assault on the Queanbeyan line only to be denied due to poor handling at crucial times or desperate last-ditch tackles. Gungahlin, increasingly frustrated by their mistakes, were unable to crack the Queanbeyan defence until outside centre Joel Patterson cut through and carried Hastings across the line 40 seconds from the break. 

The second half signaled a Queanbeyan second wind with winger Robert Beath scampering around the Gungahlin defence, Kevin shooting through next the posts and Hastings bursting passed two would-be tacklers out wide to score. Henry Seavula converted each of the tries to extend his side’s lead to 26-5 with 25 minutes remaining. Eagles hooker Matt Hogan kept his side’s hopes of a comeback alive when he burrowed through to score soon after and reduce the deficit to 14 points, before Whites hooker Dan Penca sealed the result with a try under the posts 10 minutes from fulltime.

The result secured the Whites’ second premiership of the afternoon after they defeated Tuggeranong 29-24 in Colts.

Queanbeyan Whites 33 (Josh Hastings 2; Dan Penca, John Kevin, Robert Beath tries; Henry Seavula 4 conversions) defeated Gungahlin Eagles 12 (Matt Hogan, Joel Patterson tries; Daniel Callaghan conversion) at Viking Park.

Other grand final results: 

Premier Division Colts
Queanbeyan Whites 29 defeated Tuggeranong Vikings 24